My Life As a Movie. Or a Book. Or a Song. Whatever.
A Media Literacy Autobiography

By Rose Pacatte, FSP
Director
Pauline Center for Media Studies
Boston, MA

October, 2001

Soon after I began 3^rd grade at a San Diego public elementary school, my nice young teacher discovered I couldn’t read. I couldn’t tell my colors apart either, nor do much math, but these problems paled in front of my inability to read.

I was enrolled in a new remedial two-hour a day reading program. I took one look at the other kids in the class on the first day and realized I didn’t know any of them. I knew I had to get out of there fast.

When I got home, I told my grandmother about the new class. "What? What do you mean you can’t read? What have you been doing until now? No grandchild of mine is not going to know how to read." She coerced my poor grandfather into the car that afternoon and off we went to buy wordbooks at the supermarket. Then she bought some index cards. All the way to the store and back, and every time I went driving with my grandparents for the next six weeks, Gram would sit me next to her in the back seat and make me read every single billboard we passed. Then she made flash cards out of all kinds of words and drilled me incessantly. She kept saying, "Sound the words out." And she would mutter, "No grandchild of mine is not going to know how to read."

In six weeks I ‘graduated’ from the remedial reading course with a little certificate and never looked back. I even learned my colors. The math? Well, we won’t go there right now.

The point is, I "got" the reading connection between words, letters, sentences and stories and became literate. I could read and write words that originated in my head, and not just from a book. I could write what I was thinking about. Reading and writing were helping me learn to reflect on the world around me. When the city built a public library two miles from our house two summers later, I was liberated. Summer boredom and heat turned to magic because of reading. And Gram shared her favorites with me, The Five Little Peppers series, Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost. I found my own, too: Nancy Drew.

Reading was the first medium to capture my imagination in a meaningful way. After the cartoon stage came I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys, and The Three Stooges on television. When I was 9 I got my first radio and fell in love with rock ‘n roll. There was the occasional drive-in movie, too, when my dear mother could be persuaded to take us. By the age of twelve, I was an equal-opportunity media consumer. By the age of fifteen, I had seen my first opera, Madame Butterfly, my first ballet, and my first Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona. And I had become a cultural snob. I would watch the Man from U.N.C.L.E., but not Get Smart because it insulted my intelligence. So there.

Two movies, and at least one book from our parish library, probably influenced my decision to explore religious life when I was still in high school. The movies were The Trouble with Angels and The Song of Bernadette and the book was about mothers of nuns writing about their daughters. Though I was book literate, however, I know I didn’t spend much time thinking about the other forms of information and entertainment I consumed. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t, but couldn’t have told you why.

Years went by. In 1967 I entered my congregation, the Daughters of St. Paul, and began using communications media (books, radio, television, movies, audio-visuals and later, the Internet) to produce and promote the Word of God to people in their homes, parishes, schools and through our bookstores. It was not until 1990 at a meeting for Catholic communicators that I heard the term that changed my life: "media literacy".

Sister Elizabeth Thoman, CHM, gave a presentation on the media literacy education work and publications of the Center for Media Literacy (www.medialit.org) in Los Angeles. I was fascinated by the idea that there was more to communications and evangelization than the production and distribution of quality materials. Here was a new dimension for pastoral ministers, catechists and parents to reflect upon: the culture created by entertainment and information media.

Sr. Elizabeth explained how children, in particular, are influenced by the media and how they use media to make meaning in their lives. She spoke about questioning media messages such as: who benefits from this program and why? Who or what is missing from this story? Are people treated with dignity? Why or why not, and what does this mean? She spoke about helping parents develop the skills to think critically about media and still be able to enjoy television programs and movies. She spoke of media and values and the importance of teaching media literacy life skills to students, parents, religious and yes, even clergy.

It all made so much sense to me! Thanks to that providential meeting in 1990, I pursued an MA in Education in Media Studies at the Institute of Education, University of London. Now, I teach media literacy, too. I discovered that media awareness and critical thinking skills about the media can help us live intentional and meaningful lives in a world permeated by media messages. Media literacy doesn’t make us ‘negative’ about the media. For the thoughtful media consumer, media literacy can lead us to understand the stories we choose to watch, listen to or read as ‘moral laboratories’ in which to explore behavior, moral choices and the Christian life. Media literacy skills help us make choices consistent with our values and beliefs.

Pope John Paul II said in 1991: "Since the very evangelization of modern culture depends to a large extent on the influence of media, it is not enough simply to spread the Christian message and the Church’s authentic teaching. It is necessary to integrate that message into the ‘new culture’ created by modern communications" (Redemptoris missio, n. 37).

Today, my life is a book, a Bible, a movie, an email letter, a television program, a song. My life is about integrating the relationships that these media have a part in and sometimes form: relationships with God, the sisters of my community, my family, and the people I serve through our Pauline Center for Media Studies. The media influence all aspects of our life and they are not going away. How can we bring Christ to this culture? How can we find Christ in this same culture? How does God speak to us through our culture and how can we, with God’s help, transform it?

Even in the 1960s it was evident that book literacy would not be enough to navigate the modern world. Now in the age of cyberspace and continual 24-hour news (such as we experienced with the tragic events of September 11^th), the need to engage in critical thinking about every form of technical communication -- that is, all media literacy -- is vital for thoughtful, serene Christian living and responsible citizenship in a changing world.

For more information, including links to the exciting world of media literacy as well as advanced degree programs, visit www.daughtersofstpaul.com/mediastudies.html, www.medialit.org. Sr. Rose will be giving a media presentation at the Archdiocesan Catechetical Congress on November 17^th - Healthy Families: Using Popular TV and Movies for Better Relationships.